Dad gets revenge on son's 'hypocritical' school after they fine him more than £200 for family holiday
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An angry dad thinks he's got revenge on his son's 'hypocritical' school who fined him for taking his son on a family holiday.
Steven Doherty took his 13-year-old son Alfie out of school for a couple of days last year.
The 44-year-old says he was warned of the strict attendance rules of St Ambrose Barlow RC High School in Salford, Greater Manchester.
However he didn't expect to receive a £240 fine as a result.
The raging father has since sent the school a sarcastic email over the disappointment that they allowed staff to go on strike on Wednesday (1 February), given how seriously it takes unauthorised absences.
More than half of schools in England were closed or partially closed last Wednesday due to a National Education Union strike.
The union argues teachers' wages have not kept pace with inflation and is demanding fairer pay.
Steven's email, sent on Wednesday evening, ends by announcing a £120 fine per teacher that should have taught Alfie that day - even adding his payment details and a deadline of February 14th.
The email reads in part: "This evening I returned home from work to be greeted by a serious-looking Alfie.
"He said, 'I've not been in school today'.
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"I asked, 'Why? Are you ill son?'.
"He replied, 'No Dad. The teachers were on strike'.
"I was gobsmacked! You could've knocked me over with a Year 7's PE bag.
"I said 'This can't be, there must be a mistake? Mr 'zero tolerance' [name redacted] wouldn't let this happen'.
"I asked Alfie, 'do you know how serious he takes unauthorised absence?'.
"Alfie replied, 'I know dad. They've put their short-term monetary gains before my education and my future'.
"Now I'm not angry [name redacted], I'm just disappointed. So I will be fining each teacher that should've taught Alfie today [...] The fine is £120 per teacher."
Steven says he booked a holiday for the Easter break before Alfie had been placed in a high school and he didn't realise schools in the area had different term times and despite explaining the situation was slapped with a fine.
Steven says the school hasn't yet responded to the fines he's 'issued' but told him to remove the post from Facebook for GDPR reasons.
Steven, from Salford, Greater Manchester, said: "When I heard Alfie was off it annoyed me because of the double standards. It's hypocritical.
"It's acceptable to not be in school when they don't want to be in school but it's not when I make a genuine mistake on my holiday.
"The school wanted to see it as black and white when they fined me so I thought I'd give it back to them the same way. I hope they'll have a bit of a laugh with me but I don't know.
"I thought I'd give them a bit of karma and send this email. It entertained me last night. I was laughing as I wrote it."
The post, has racked up more than 300 comments with users split on whether the email was 'brilliant' or 'silly'.
One commented: "You're right mate I said this earlier. Fined for not being in school but they can have a day off to strike."
Another wrote: "What a good idea."
However others disagreed and thought: "Bit silly really, considering teachers pave the way for your child to succeed in life.
"They are fighting for a better education system, yes pay too, but I, for one second, wish you could see how much work teachers do. Grow up."
A second commented: "Imagine thinking a week away doing absolutely s**t all is in any way comparable to teachers taking a day to try and improve their children's learning environments and getting abused for it."
LADbible has contacted St Ambrose Barlow RC High School for comment.
